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2018 Bloody Sunday events

A series of commemorative events will mark the 46th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Derry, including the annual Mass, minute’s silence and family memorial service.

Visitors are urged to visit the poignant 'In Their Footsteps' shoe exhibition, which will be on display within the Museum of Free Derry this week. These shoes were gathered during the island-wide In Their Footsteps campaign for truth, with over 200 pairs donated by families bereaved in the conflict and exhibited in Dublin, London and Belfast. This year we relaunch In Their Footsteps with a call for families to contribute to this ever-growing display highlighting the lack of progress in historic cases.

Monday 22 January (until 31 January)

Event: Exhibition on The Legacy of Colonialism, created by the Pat Finucane Centre.

Venue: Foyer of Rath Mor Centre, Creggan

This powerful exhibition details the impact of British colonialism in eight different countries (Kenya, Cyprus, Palestine etc), linking various methods of repression that were all too common here in Ireland.

One of Ireland's most popular actors, John Connors, will visit Derry for a special screening of his latest film, Cardboard Gangsters, at the Nerve Centre. A Q&A session with the actor will follow. Over the last number of years, John Connors has become one of Ireland’s fastest rising stars. Connors co-wrote the screenplay for Cardboard Gangsters, in which he also plays the lead role of a part time DJ who attempts to gain control of the drug trade in a Dublin. The thriller became Ireland’s highest grossing film in 2017. Free admission.

The Museum of Free Derry will host a fascinating panel discussion on radical film-making and social change. The panel of guests will share their experiences of rewriting - and often challenging - official narratives of events that changed the landscape. Speakers will include BAFTA-winning screen writer Jimmy McGovern, who is also now a patron of the Bloody Sunday Trust, Sean Murray, director of the forthcoming Unquiet Graves film, and Eimhear O’Neill, co-producer on the recent Loughinisland film, No Stone Unturned. Limited seating will be available, so early arrival is advised. All welcome. Chaired by Irish Times correspondent, Freya McClements.

Monday 29 January @ 7.30pm

Film Screening: No Stone Unturned

Venue: The Gasyard, Lecky Road.

This hard-hitting documentary by award-winning American documentary maker Alex Gibney pieces together the awful events in Loughinisland in 1994 when six people were murdered while watching football in a County Down pub.

Tuesday 30 January @ 2.45pm

Event: Preview of the findings of a new Pat Finucane Centre research publication, The Impact of the Parachute Regiment in Belfast, 1970-1973, by Micheál Smith, PFC Caseworker.

Fractured Lives, Dissenting Voices, Recovering Truth: Hillsborough activist Professor Phil Scraton reflects on four decades of in-depth research into deaths involving state institutions – Hillsborough, Prisons and Ireland – focusing on his work with the bereaved, survivors and their advocates.

Phil Scraton PhD, DLaws (Hon), is Professor Emeritus in the School of Law, Queen’s University, Belfast. His research has included controversial deaths and the state, rights of the bereaved and survivors following disasters and the politics of incarceration. He led the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s research team and was lead author of its ground-breaking 2013 Report, Hillsborough. He was advisor to the families’ legal teams throughout the inquests, and the new edition of Hillsborough: The Truth was published in 2016. Chaired by former BBC reporter, Paul McFadden.

Submitted by Editor on 24 January 2018.

About the Museum of Free Derry

The Museum of Free Derry tells the story of how a largely working class community rose up against the years of oppression it had endured. The museum and archive has become an integral part of Ireland’s radical and civil rights heritage.

The museum also tells the story of Bloody Sunday, the day when the British Army committed mass murder on the streets of the Bogside. It tells the story of how the people of Derry, led by the families of the victims, overcame the injustice and wrote a new chapter in the history of civil rights, which has become a source of international inspiration.

The museum is a public space where the concept of Free Derry can be explored in both historic and contemporary contexts. Free Derry is about our future together as much as it is about the past. The struggle of Free Derry is part of a wider struggle in Ireland and internationally for freedom and equality for all.